WOYWW 483

It’s been a busy week for me again this week, at the conference all weekend. At least the venue is only 5 mins away by car and my hubby was happy to drop me over, and he joined us for a couple of meals. It all went very well and everyone seemed to like my singing, which I was pleased about. It was lovely to meet up with friends old and new, and I met some very interesting people. We had some fascinating talks, including one by a missionary couple from Brazil – he explained that his parents had met and fallen in love and married without knowing some crucial facts about each other – that he was a Nazi and she was a Jew! As you can imagine, he had a rather confusing time growing up in that household.

Not much more progress made on the current UFO – I made a couple more flowers and that’s about it!

Cooking

This week’s bread: challah for the conference, and more sourdough.

This time I made the sourdough with half white bread flour and a quarter each whole wheat and whole rye. I do like the flavour of the rye but it seems to make the dough more difficult to handle. It worked pretty well but I don’t think it’s risen quite as much as the previous loaf. It tastes pretty good, though! Unfortunately it cracked a bit on top and I’m not sure why that should have happened.

Yesterday morning, being confronted with a huge amount of apple that my hubby had peeled and chopped, I made a big pot of apple chutney which will probably keep us going for months! The recipe says to leave it for 6 weeks to mature but I’ve had a little taste and it tastes fine. Later on it will probably be more blended. I didn’t have enough of most of the ingredients in the recipe so I adapted it and just bunged in a whole lot of extra stuff!

There was also another tall narrow pot but I gave this to my friend who spent yesterday afternoon with me. I didn’t have quite enough to fill the jar at the front.

Kitties

Perfect symmetry?

Last night we lost Ruby. We thought she might have got out when my friend was leaving but we called in the garden and my hubby went out with a torch, but couldn’t find her. We searched high and low in the house and there was no sign. Lily seemed to be a bit twitched, not knowing where her sister was. I was looking again in the bedroom and my hubby called me, and there she was, without a care in the world, sitting on the stairs! We haven’t a clue where she’d got to.

It reminded me of the time when Dad was in his dementia home, and he’d lost his glasses (he used to lose things for a pastime) and my hubby and the staff looked everywhere, to no avail. Eventually my hubby managed to find his spare pair amongst some of his other stuff we had here at home, and took them in, only to find Dad sitting as happy as Larry, wearing the lost pair! When my hubby asked him about them, he not only couldn’t tell him where he’d found them, but couldn’t even remember losing them in the first place! We had a good laugh about that. Dad took it all in very good part and just went on in his usual confused way!

Health Update

When I saw my surgeon over a fortnight ago he said I was to go back on the rivaroxaban again (anticoagulant). I’d been on it for a while after one of my routine oncology CT scans revealed numerous small pulmonary emboli, but I stopped it after my operation in March, and after I finished the course of post-op fragmin injections (shorter-acting anticoagulant), I wasn’t on anything. I’d asked the GP about it and she said she’d heard from my surgeon that I wasn’t to go back on the rivaroxaban until he’d seen me, but of course that appointment was a lot longer coming than I’d hoped, so the months were going by and I was getting a bit concerned. When I saw him he just said I should start them again – why he couldn’t just have said that to the GP I don’t know, because he didn’t seem to need to discuss it with me. Anyway, after that, again I didn’t hear anything so we checked at the pharmacy to see if a prescription had come up, which it hadn’t, so I phoned the surgery and arranged a telephone appointment with the GP that happened on Monday. She immediately agreed to deal with it and the prescription was ready for collection first thing on Tuesday, which was great. I’ve got to make an appointment with the practice nurse in a fortnight’s time to have my kidney function checked now I’m back on them again.

It was good that I was able to speak to the GP because over the weekend something else came up. I think it was because I was sitting for so long at the conference but not with my feet up. I have a varicose vein on my left leg and on Sunday evening after the end of the conference I noticed I had a small tender lump near my ankle, and on Monday I had two more up my leg, and it has become very painful when I stand on it. I told the GP that I was worried I might have a thrombosis and told her about the varicose vein, and the fact I’d been pretty immobile for a few days. She said that a DVT would produce generalised swelling of the leg and not small local lumps, and that this was thrombophlebitis. Going back on the rivaroxaban should solve the problem pretty quickly, but if I was concerned, I should come to the surgery and get it looked at. She said that because it was superficial, there wasn’t nearly as high a risk as with a DVT and that they usually disappeared on their own, so I was reassured. Sitting with my legs up, I’m not really aware of it but it hurts like crazy as soon as I put my feet down and stand up! Always something, isn’t there…

As the days go on, I am more and more convinced that my hernia has returned. I still haven’t got a CT scan appointment… I’m keeping a close eye on things and hoping I don’t get another obstruction.

I’m hoping that the next few days will be relatively quiet so that I can rest a bit after being so busy lately. One day I might even get into my studio (if I can actually clamber over all the junk in there) and tidy up and maybe even do something creative in there!

WOYWW 482

Better late than never… It’s been rather a busy day and I’ve only just had the chance to get this post sorted.

Here’s my studio today.

Chaos reigns eternal. No change, except a bit more mess. I did manage to tidy up my wools a bit, though, over on the other side.

I’ve been busy again with the embellishments for my scarf. I finished the butterflies and have started making some crochet flowers. I shall just keep going until I think I’ve got enough! They are fairly quick to do, and relaxing while watching TV.

I’m glad I made a mistake with one of the butterflies and only did 6 “petals” instead of 8 – when folded over to create the butterfly, it makes a slightly smaller one, of a different shape. Serendipity, and nothing like a bit of variety! The larger flowers are done in several layers, and are quite 3-d.

Kitties

The kitties had their annual kitty MOT this week, and the first of the annual boosters of their inoculations. They were so good! They didn’t make a sound, either when the needle went in, or when they suffered the indignity of having a thermometer shoved up their bums. They looked slightly anxious but the lovely young Polish vet was so gentle with them, and she spoke to them softly, and gave each one a stroke after it was all done. They have gained so much weight since last year – last August, Lily weighed 1.33 kilos and she now weighs 3.3 kilos so that’s a gain of a whole kilo! Ruby was 1.23 kilos last year, and is now 3.6 kilos so she’s gained even more. She remains the heavier of the two, and is pretty solid! The vet said their weights were healthy and they shouldn’t gain any more without being overweight. They are eating well, and getting plenty of exercise running around the garden.

Here’s lookin’ at you, kid!

Kitty chorus – feeding time at the zoo!

Health Update

I still haven’t got an appointment for my CT scan to see if I really have developed another hernia (I’m pretty sure I have), but the support garments lady is coming to see me on 11th September for a fitting, which is progress.

The man from the company that supplied the power assist system for my wheelchair was down in our area yesterday and serviced my wheelchair for me. Good to go for another year.

Sourdough

Last weekend I made my best sourdough bread ever! I am following a particular Youtube video and this really seems to work.

Fantastic crumb this time – look at all those lovely traditional sourdough holes!

I made this loaf with half-and-half white and whole wheat flour instead of using wholemeal rye. I’m not sure if the improvement was due to this, or my improving dough-handling skills.

I have just started another batch, and this time I’ve divided the wholemeal half into half-and-half wheat and rye, to see how that goes. I do like the flavour of the rye.

Busy weekend ahead

This week, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, I am attending a Christian conference, non-resident, as the place is just up the road from us. I have been asked to sing and I received the list today – they want a lovely lot of songs, including a few from my repertoire which I haven’t sung for ages. I had a long practice session this afternoon and they are still a bit rough round the edges, but I may have another go this evening, and will certainly set aside some time tomorrow for further practice, and I think they will be OK. My friend is also singing, which is great. I’ve booked in for all the meals except breakfast, and my hubby is joining me for the first and last meals. It will also be a lovely opportunity to meet up with several old friends.

I have also been asked to bake the challah bread for the Friday evening meal, so I’m going to do that tomorrow as well, and work on my sourdough throughout the day. The sourdough doesn’t need a lot of work, but it needs quite a bit of attention – several folding sessions at two-hourly intervals etc. so it’s fairly time-consuming in that I have to be here, tied to the kitchen timer! There should be a nice baking smell in the house tomorrow.

Fermentation

My kombucha is going very well indeed. This time I set aside 6 bottles for second fermentation, with raspberry puree, which is delicious. The Scoby (Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeasts) – the “dead jellyfish” that you use as a starter, has grown a lot and it’s doing a fantastic job. This fermented tea is so delicious, and has so many health benefits. I start a new batch on Fridays, and start the second fermentation of the previous batch at the same time – this is ready in three days.

I have also made a small jar of fermented dill cucumbers just to see how they worked. After three or four days on the kitchen counter, they are sensational. Definitely something to do again. Absolutely no effort required – I just cut up the cucumbers into strips, stuck them in a jar with some dill and chopped garlic, and topped the whole thing up with brine, covered it and left it to its own devices. I just had to “burp” the jar morning and evening to let the CO2 escape. It’s now in the fridge, but I don’t think it will be there for long!

The other day my hubby saw me at work in the kitchen and asked, “Are you working on your liquids?” – not drinks, haha! He said this in a rather dark tone of voice as if he was suggesting that they were the product of Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory.

Other food

My hubby has started bringing in fast quantities of apples from our tree. His brother was over today and he confirmed that they are Bramleys – we didn’t know what variety they were. They are very good apples. My hubby peels and slices them for me, and then it’s up to me to do something with them. This year I’m determined to be a bit more adventurous than just stewing them. I’ve already fermented some, but my hubby doesn’t like those much. I am going to make more apple butter in the slow cooker this year, and I’m going to attempt to dry some. I don’t have a dehydrator but understand you can get good results using the oven on its lowest setting. I’m not going to have much time to attend to this for a few days, though.

I haven’t done much other stuff in the kitchen as my recent cooking days have yielded lots of freezer fodder and we’ve been noshing on that. I’m making a salad for tonight, including a sweet potato salad that I made this morning with fresh herbs from the garden, and a mixture of mayonnaise and home-made yoghurt (now being made from an heirloom culture I got online – fabulous). Once my bought mayonnaise is all used up, I’m not buying any more. My friend who got me started on fermentation gave me a recipe for her fabulous mayonnaise made from kefir, and that’s definitely the way to go. I saw a Youtube video last week where the woman said, “Read the labels on the back of foods in the supermarket. If you can’t pronounce any of the ingredients, don’t buy it!” Lol!

Have a great week, everyone.

WOYWW 448

The start of another year! Where on earth did the last one go… Anyway, to see what Shoshi did, see my previous (very long!) post reviewing the past year. What a rollercoaster it was.

Anyway, what’s on my desk?

 

My Christmas present from my hubby! A complete set of Derwent Graphik Line Painter pens. Now I’ve just got to find the time and energy to use them.

It really is my ambition this year to get stuck back into art again. I’ve got so many ideas and things I want to play with. However, it will have to wait until after Mum’s memorial service because I’ve got a lot of work to do for that, finalising the details with my hubby and then designing and printing the service booklets. I’ve already made a start but there’s quite a bit to do still. Also, I need to knuckle down and practise my singing so that I am ready to sing “I know that my Redeemer liveth” at the service. I found a wonderful website where I could purchase it as digital sheet music, transposed down a tone so that I don’t have to struggle with top G-sharps! I have also downloaded their app which enables me to listen to it as well as read it, so I’ve now got the accompaniment in D-major to practise with. Then I’ve got to get together with the organist to practise for real.

My poor studio is a dust-gathering dumping ground. I need to do some major tidying before I can work in there.

I also need to finish my socks for the homeless.

I still have a load of letters to write about Mum, and post-Christmas, and I’m still looking after my hubby with his broken leg.

He went to the fracture clinic on Friday and they are happy with him. They will see him again in a month, when they will decide if it needs pinning after all, but it will probably heal OK on its own. So we’ve got at least another month of this, and after that, all being well, they will put some sort of walking plaster on it which will make him a bit more mobile, but it’s going to be ages before he’s driving again.

At last I have an appointment to see the surgeon about my parastomal hernia – I am seeing him on 11th Jan. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with it and can’t wait for a decision to get it fixed once and for all. This has been going on for far too long.

The kittens, now 7 months old, are getting so big, and they are very lively and naughty! It’s a nuisance not being able to let them have the run of the house because of all the visitors dropping in at all hours and we can’t risk the kittens escaping outside.

 

I love how they have their favourite little things to do. Ruby is much more of a baby than Lily and is more mischievous and playful, and she’s always rushing under the plastic sheet that the litter tray stands on – I think she likes the sound it makes! Lily never does this. Also, over the past couple of weeks, Ruby has discovered that it’s really fun to walk around the back of the wooden armchair – the difficult way!

She falls off sometimes but it doesn’t deter her. On this photo, you can see what I call her “dirty sock” – that little grey spot on her right sock! She’s such a funny little thing.

It appears that Lily has taken over Beatrice’s role as our resident Computer Queen. She’s always messing about on my hubby’s laptop, and the other day he found her watching a Youtube video she’d selected, entitled “Snipers Firefight with the Taliban.” Not exactly my personal viewing choice, but each to their own!!

Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s hope it’s a good one.

WOYWW 445–Life Gets Complicated

Another week with nothing on my desk, and I have only done a few rows of knitting on the second rainbow sock.

I am posting this on WOYWW so you know what’s going on, but I doubt if I shall have time to visit many desks this week as I’m up to my eyes.

It’s been quite a week, it really has.

Last week my hubby went in to see my mum and she was in bed and hadn’t eaten for two days, and was obviously poorly, and quite confused. They’d had the doctor for her and he thought she might have a UTI. They phoned at the weekend to say she was worse, and the doctor had been again and said she had pneumonia. Her breathing was poor and she was unable to take anything. I was out to lunch on Saturday for our church’s Christmas dinner (my hubby was unable to go because of his broken leg) and a lovely couple from church drove me home afterwards via Mum’s care home, and while I visited her they sat upstairs in the lounge and had coffee.

I sat with her for about an hour and she was unable to speak to me and obviously in distress and uncomfortable. I was so glad of this time with her despite how she was, because I had a feeling it might be the last time. The last visit I had with her a couple of weeks previously had been lovely – she was pleased to see me, and I took in my iPad with photos and videos of the kittens for her to see, which she enjoyed.

We thought she might linger a little while longer, but at about 10 p.m. the care home phoned us to let us know that she had just died.

We are now in the throes of the usual paperwork and huge amount of organisation needed in the aftermath of a death. With my brainfog and lack of mobility, my hubby usually sorts this sort of stuff out, as he did marvellously well with my dad’s affairs four years ago. Of course, he is now laid up and quite immobile, and unable to drive, so life is very complicated! Everybody is being so kind – family, friends, neighbours, friends from church – with lifts, collecting documents, odd bits of shopping etc. My hubby is able to wade through papers and write letters which I have been printing out for him, and sending emails etc., and deciding what has to be done and when.

After a while I find too much information overload makes my brain want to explode, so I can only take it in relatively small doses. He keeps reassuring me that we will get through this – it’s just a bit more complicated than it would have been if he hadn’t broken his leg.

We cannot plan the funeral for any time soon – it will have to be delayed until after Christmas or even into the New Year now. We’ve already started making tentative plans, and we thought it might be nice to include “I know that my Redeemer liveth” from Handel’s Messiah, and it occurred to me that instead of having a recording, it would be much nicer if I was to sing this myself, if I am up to it! I found a Youtube video with just a piano accompaniment with no vocal part for practising, and practice is exactly what I do need to do if I’m going to make those top G-sharps!! I haven’t done very much singing recently. I have just found a useful website where I can buy digital sheet music of the piece, transposed to whatever key I want, so this may be a better option – a single tone down would probably suit me.

To add to all of this was the fact that my hubby had to go into hospital on Sunday morning very early (which made an unwelcome early start for me as he needed help sorting his stuff) for his leg to be pinned – he had an X-ray at the fracture clinic on Friday and it appears that the bones were springing apart and not mending as hoped. However, by mid-morning he was home again because his operation had been postponed in favour of more urgent cases. Usual scenario!

We had a repeat performance on Monday, and this time he was prepped and ready for surgery. However, once they got the plaster off, they found that his skin was still blistered where the plaster had chafed, right where the surgeon was going to make the incision, so all he could do was manipulate the bone back into place and strap him up again, which has certainly made him more comfortable. He was in overnight and came home mid-afternoon yesterday, with strict instructions to keep it up and rested as much as possible. He is now accepting that he has got to cancel stuff and not take on any activities. He had a nice rest in hospital, which was good, and I enjoyed a quiet day, resting and watching TV, and catching up with some emails etc.

He’s going back in again next Monday or thereabouts, and if the blistering has healed, they will proceed with the operation and pin the bone. The anticipated 4-6 weeks’ healing period in plaster will recommence from then, and several people have said that he will probably not be fully weight-bearing for some time after that, so we have no idea when he will be driving again. This is turning out to be quite the long haul, from what he originally thought was a bad sprain!

All this could not have come at a worse time, and in the middle of it, Christmas is looming, when everything slows down to a virtual standstill, with the post being delayed, etc., and also bad weather warnings too!

I am still determined to cook my famous Christmas dinner though, because even more so now, it will be a lovely treat for the two of us, and hopefully an oasis in the middle of the storm! Before my hubby returned yesterday, I spent the middle of the day in the kitchen making some stuffings, the first being mealy stuffing, a traditional family favourite from Scotland, made with medium oatmeal and onion, and for me, a turkey dinner is incomplete without it, and the second being made from dates and walnuts with a few dried cranberries chucked in.

I also discovered this week that not only can you freeze par-boiled potatoes in order to save time on the day, but if you roast them from frozen, they come out even crispier and more delicious than normal! I prepared a whole 2.5 kg bag of Maris Piper potatoes (a nice floury variety that roast well) and froze them separately, so I can take out as many as and when I want.

I had bought a cheap white loaf for crumbs for the date stuffing, and with the rest, I treated myself by making Delia Smith’s marmalade bread and butter pudding from her winter recipes book. This is one of the most delicious variations of this pudding that I have ever tasted! By the time I’d finished all this cooking, my hubby was returning, and it was mid-afternoon before I was able to sit down to enjoy it.

With so much to do, it might seem silly to take on all this extra cooking, but I found it so therapeutic and I got really stuck in and enjoyed doing it so much. I enjoy cooking in my lovely kitchen, particularly with my gorgeous new pantry making things so much easier.

Pottering in the Studio

I really wanted to do some art today, but before attempting anything, I just knew I had to have a clear-up. The mess in my studio was really getting to me! There was stuff encroaching on my main work area, restricting the amount of room  had to work. As I went around the room from the door, on around to the further corner where the drawing area is, I cleared each surface and found stuff that hadn’t been put away since January when I was completing my Mamhead Woods album!! OK, I was ill soon after that and spent 2 1/2 weeks in hospital and then some considerable time recovering, but then I got very busy with other things and kind of got used to the messy state of things over the other side of the room. Funny how you can cease to notice mess after a while… Anyway, having just finished my Second Wind album, I knew I should tidy up before resuming the Infusions album.

I didn’t take any photos of the messy room till it was too late! Believe me, it was messy. Here are the tidy photos, which are a lot nicer to look at!

It feels a lot more restful in there now, and more conducive to creativity.

While tidying up, I’d found one or two bits and pieces that I decided to deal with right away. Over the past few weeks I’d set aside some different materials that I wanted to heat, to see how they would melt, and whether they would be useful in art projects. The first was some fruit labels. I also had a piece of damp proof course that the damp expert kindly cut off his roll for me to experiment with – this black shiny plastic has a rather attractive diamond pattern on it and I wanted to see if it would melt.

The fruit label shrank up very nicely and got quite wrinkled. I think this might be useful for texture, and it could be gessoed before painting. The damp proof course stuff also shrank up quite a lot, but it got very sticky and tended to stick to itself. I didn’t think it would be so useful in its melted state, but unmelted, I think it could have its uses.

I also tried melting a purple wristband that I had from a conference I attended recently – everyone was given one of these so that they could come and go freely, but be able to prove easily that they were paid up delegates when they came back in. I had been very careful with mine, thinking it was paper and being afraid to rip it, but at the end, when I tried to rip it off my wrist, it wouldn’t, which made me think that perhaps it was made of Tyvek, so I cut it off and saved it, thinking I would melt it and see.

Melting it proved my theory to be correct. This is definitely Tyvek!

All these little bits have now gone into my melted samples box.

A couple of weeks ago I was given some gingko leaves and I’d put them in my flower press. I got them out today. They have pressed beautifully but they appear to have parallel lines on them from the corrugated cardboard in the press, despite each layer of cardboard being separated by layers of absorbent paper, between which you place the flowers for pressing. I am hoping these lines will disappear once the leaves have been exposed to the air for a bit and had a chance to dry out. I have yet to discover what I am going to use these for. I am thinking of asking for some more, to try doing some eco-printing with. I simply love the shape of these leaves – so unusual.

By the time I’d done all this, I was very tired and my back was starting to ache, so I abandoned any thought of doing any art today. At least the studio is nice and tidy now, and I can begin again when I like.

We had a busy day today – I sang at church, and then we had to rush home and I had to get lunch on quickly because my hubby was going out. Most of the afternoon was taken up with clearing up the kitchen and finishing the rest of the laundry and doing the ironing.

I’ve got a nice sense of achievement now.

WOYWW 415

An extremely busy week and I’ve been out all day today, so only had time to snap a photo of my desk and get it on the computer, but I think 11.30 p.m. still qualifies to enter a Wednesday blog hop! Unfortunately I’m not going to have time to visit any desks, and it may be a while before any visitors to my blog get a reply, but I’ll do my best!

It’s not a very interesting desk this week, I’m afraid. On the left are the info sheets about the Infusions Mini-Album page order. Details here. To the right are the three bundles of pages which are now in order to make three separate books, which will be bound together into one cover. There’s still quite a bit to do on them as I have to make title pages for each section, and the tags to go into the loo roll centres. There are some reject pages on the far left of the picture – some of these are failures and others are ones I decided to omit from the album, which will go in my stash to be used for other projects.

Talking of which, a couple of days ago I used one to make a birthday card for my hubby, as it’s his birthday on Friday. Full details here.

Busy busy busy this week with something on all day most days! Yesterday and today I attended a Christian conference which ran all day, with evening sessions too. Quite brilliant and my head is still buzzing with it all. Plenty of new material to incorporate into my teaching sessions, and a lot to think about. Dashing home at tea time and getting a simple meal on, and then dashing out again!

Tomorrow we are off to the Devon County Show, which is one of my favourite days out in the whole year. It will be another long day, with a meal out at the end of it. We are more or less celebrating my hubby’s birthday tomorrow because I’m busy again on Friday with the Cancer Cakeathon meeting in the afternoon – our regular monthly get-together of friends who have met through our cancer. We sit about and chat and laugh and eat a lot of cake! I am quite relieved that my Bible study group has been cancelled in the evening because by then I shall need a long rest, I think! However, it’s not to be, because I’m singing at church this coming Sunday and the next, so have practising to do – having been busy with a lot of other things recently, my guitar playing needs brushing up a bit.

Health Update

On Sunday we went to the private hospital in Torquay which takes NHS overflow, for my CT scan to see if my hernia has returned. Details here. It was in the mobile scanning unit, which I’ve never been in before – I’ve had MRI scans in the past in the mobile unit but not a CT scan. It went smoothly and I was in and out pretty quickly – a lot more quickly than previous scans at Torbay Hospital where you are sitting around for hours! Not sure when I shall get the result but soon, I hope. It will confirm whether or not I require further surgery to do a more permanent repair on the hernia, to prevent any further obstructions.

On Monday we had to go to the GP’s surgery for a blood test in advance of my oncology appointment next week. Having had the cannula in the vein in my arm the day before, she went in slightly above, and because I’m on rivaroxaban (an anticoagulant) I’m a terrible little bleeder and I’ve now got a lovely red wheal on my arm! Pretty.

In the middle of all this busyness I was not best pleased when my hubby came home with a cold. I tried to keep away from him, but unfortunately I have caught it. Fortunately it’s not too bad and I’ve managed to keep going, but it’s inconvenient and a huge bore.

Kitty Health Update

Phoebe still up and down. She had a very subdued day a couple of days ago and didn’t eat, and was very clingy, but the next day she was better again and eating well. We continue to keep a close eye on her.

Same with Beatrice really – some days she walks as if drunk, and then the next day she’s rushing about like a crazy kitten! She’s no good at jumping up on things any more as she seems to have lost the spring in her back legs, and she falls off things. If she was a person, she’d probably have a granny frame by now.

They both seem contented enough and neither seems to be in pain, so we will keep them going as long as we can, our two old ladies!

Have a great week, everyone, and I’ll try and catch up with you later.

WOYWW 362–Kitty Castle

Nothing on my desk this week except a bit of a mess. I’ve had such a busy time recently and it’s all caught up with me a bit and I keep feeling really tired so I’m resting as much as I can this week to try and recover. See my previous post for details of our tea party, and the completion of our sitting room now we’ve got the new chandelier installed.

I thought I’d share some kitty pics with you this week, with some creativity from my hubby instead of me. When we had supper out with the family last week we were told that one of the younger generation has just acquired two kittens, so my hubby decided to make them a present. Two generations of kittens of ours have had a kitty castle to play in so he decided to make one for these new arrivals. This is my hubby’s own idea and I think he should patent it! It consists of a series of cardboard boxes stuck together with parcel tape, with holes cut between them, and holes and doors on the outside. It works best with more than one kitten because they love chasing each other through the different levels and playing through the various holes. Banana boxes are particularly good because they have air holes to keep the bananas fresh, and these are just the right size for little paws to poke through! Endless entertainment value for kitties and humans alike.

We eventually got rid of our kitty castle once ours had grown out of it – I remember towards the end of its life, Phoebe getting stuck in the hole on the top because she was getting too fat to get through – after much flailing of back legs and tail with her bottom stuck up in the air, she eventually forced an entry! The kitty castle was starting to show distinct signs of wear and tear and had been chewed a lot by Beatrice who was very destructive in her younger days! It eventually had to be thrown out as it was starting to collapse.

My hubby finished the new kitty castle last night and showed it to our two to see if it met with their approval. They were immediately very interested indeed, and I am sure they remembered playing in one in their younger days! Here are some pictures.

Showing definite  interest when he first brought it in:

Beatrice taking possession, with Phoebe looking on. This kitty castle is a superior model with pictures drawn on it!

“Come on, Beatrice, get down – it’s my turn now!”

“The holes are a bit small for me to fit through.”

Phoebe Queen of the Castle.

Convenient holes to poke one’s paws through.

Looking through the kitty castle, showing the holes.

A view down into the kittty castle from above. High rise housing for kitties.

They were definitely interested, but after a short while they got bored – far too old and grown up for such kittenish pursuits these days! Still, they have given it their seal of approval and it will be off to its new home soon.

Phoebe had another fit on Sunday night. My hubby took her back to the vet on Monday morning and they’ve increased her dose once more, and we have now been told to split it between morning and evening instead of her having it all in the morning – she has always had the fits in the evenings and having some phenobarbital with her supper might help prevent them. It’s very distressing for the poor little thing. In between she is fine and is her usual affectionate self, and enjoys playing a bit, and lying about in the sun, and she’s eating quite well and has gained some more weight.

Other news – I sang in church for the first time on Sunday and I think it went down pretty well – I got some nice feedback. I am singing again on 12th June. Also, I have a hospital appointment tomorrow morning for my first year follow-up with my surgeon. I am sure he will be pleased with my progress. I am looking forward to seeing him again – he was consistently charming, caring and friendly throughout, and after he laughed when he heard my stoma was called Kermit, I shall enjoy telling him about Kermit’s birthday!! I am seeing the oncologist for my six-month follow-up on 2nd June.

Have a happy WOYWW everybody and I hope to be back in business soon.

Allerton Three Tea Party and New Chandeliers

Warning – Long post, picture-rich.

On Friday we had our Allerton Three Anniversary Tea Party. The Allerton Three is the group of us girls who met up on Allerton Ward last year, all having our bowel cancer operations. (It sounds like a criminal gang. I am convinced they discharged us for bad behaviour.) We became firm friends and have kept up, meeting when we can, and are in regular email contact. We all attend the monthly relaxation sessions put on by the Lodge, the cancer support centre at the hospital, which is a good regular contact time, and we’ve had lunch out together, and last week one of them had several paintings in her art group’s exhibition so we went over for that, on a day that she was stewarding, so we could see her.

We decided to celebrate the first anniversary of our friendship by having this tea party. Unfortunately we couldn’t do it exactly a year on from our meeting because the other two were away, and Friday was the first day when we were all free. It also coincided with a Lodge day so we met there and all came back here together afterwards – first we chilled out, then we pigged out lol!

It was lovely showing them where we live, and both of them enjoyed seeing my studio and some of the work I have done, and the artist denied being green with envy!!

I had laid up the table in Mum’s room with my best embroidered cloth, and it was groaning with plates of all my baking! Unfortunately, in all the excitement, I completely forgot to photograph it so I will have to leave that to your imagination, but it did look lovely. Afternoon tea is a great favourite with us all, and we agreed, happily, that this seems to be an institution that is at last coming back into fashion. I got my pretty cake plates out (I wish I still had Mum’s old wooden 3-tier cake stand!) and my Denby pottery tea set – this is rather thick and heavy, unfortunately, but the beautiful bone china one that was my grandmother’s all got broken over the years and is no more. I put out my little tea knives, though, and the silver jam spoons for the cream tea, and the matching table napkins that go with the cloth, and it all looked very pretty. I’m so fed up with myself for forgetting to photograph it!

This afternoon I decided to plate up the leftovers and photograph them so you could at least see a bit how things looked.

Chocolate chip cookies. They are flavoured with vanilla. One of my friends said that instead of vanilla, you can add orange zest and/or essence and get a real Terry’s Chocolate Orange (“not for sharing” lol! – remember those adverts?) flavour. I must try this.

Cinnamon biscuits.

Shortbread.

Remember the little cakes I made with the sticky icing (featured in my previous blog post)? Well, that icing failed to set, so on Thursday I scraped it all off and chucked it out. I made some more, this time butter cream, which worked much better, and coloured it pink, and spread it on the cakes, and then coloured the remainder a nice rich dark red and piped the little stomas on top!

Here’s a detail. You can see that for added realism (!) I have added a chocolate chip in the centre!

One of my friends asked me, “What’s that little brown thing in the centre?” I said, “Well, it’s poo, isn’t it!!” We all fell about laughing at the stomas and she said, “Yes, but what is it really?” so I told her it was a chocolate chip! Then she helped herself to one of the chocolate energy bites and said, “These look just like poo, too!” More laughter!

I am convinced that our time together on Allerton Ward turned us into three giggling poo-obsessed schoolgirls! It’s all the fault of the nurses. They never talked about anything else – but then you can’t blame them – it was the gut ward after all! It was there that we learnt all about the Bristol Stool Chart – I couldn’t believe that someone had actually poked around in people’s poo and graded it, and was convinced that the nurses were pulling our legs, but no, it’s genuine!

What a lovely topic of conversation over our tea party.

A friend on the stoma forum I’m on came up with the Bristol Ileostomy Output Chart (being different from poo, we felt that we needed our own chart – I printed this out and took it in to the stoma nurses!)

It’s a good thing that for those of us fortunate enough never to have grown up, poo remains a subject of giggle-generating infantile humour. I’m sure it’s one of the things that got us through last year’s ordeal!! Guffaw guffaw!

Here’s a mixed platter of goodies.

You can see that there are some buttered Scots pancakes (drop scones) and a couple of plain scones spread with strawberry jam and clotted cream – a traditional Devon cream tea!

I also took some photos of my beautiful embroidered table cloth which we used for the tea party. This belonged to my grandmother and I think it may have been one of the pieces she brought back from the Canary Islands where she often used to spend the winter. It is a beautiful natural-coloured linen with slightly darker embroidery, with satin stitch and drawn thread work.

Last week everything went brilliantly, timing-wise (apart from the first attempt at icing the stoma cakes) and the two chandeliers I’d ordered both arrived. On Wednesday, when our sitting room one came, I phoned the electrician straight away, and he said he could come the following day to fit it, which was great – it’s now installed and looking so pretty! The light in the room is a huge improvement on the single bulb under a shade that did little to improve the dimness of the room – it has five arms, each with a nice bright LED candle bulb.

What pretty patterns it makes on the ceiling when it’s lit. Also, I love how I can see it reflected in the mirror from where I sit on the recliner.

The other chandelier didn’t require the electrician to fit it, as it is just a fancy sort of lampshade, but he did install a longer flex for it. When Mum was in her flat, she complained it wasn’t bright enough and got my hubby to take the shade off her ceiling light, and it was so grim with just a bare bulb. Having a pretty chandelier answers the problem, and I chose a particularly pretty one on Ebay, in the “cascade” style.

In preparation for our tea party, I also added a few things to the room to make it more homely. Mum had brought very little with her from her old house and the room was stark and unwelcoming and unattractive. Unfortunately she has no sense of style and if something was of no practical use she wasn’t interested. My hubby brought the rug down from the loft, and the red armchair and the Indian table had already gone through when Gary was decorating our sitting room. I finally got around to unpacking one of the remaining boxes from the house move and put out the sitting room ornaments that there hadn’t been room for in our other room. I rummaged in my studio to find my huge Chinese fan that I bought years ago and which had never been displayed. I also put up some other pictures in place of the horrible ones that had been there before! Now that the big bookcase has gone, the room is looking a lot more attractive, homely and welcoming. I brought the large silk ficus plant in from our entrance lobby (where everybody just walked past it anyway without noticing it) and that’s softened things a bit, too.

The standard lamp that we bought for her has a pink shade which doesn’t co-ordinate with the room but I am planning to replace this.

A view of the garden through the open door.

It was great that both chandeliers arrived in time to be installed before our tea party, so that both rooms were complete. Also, on Friday morning, again just in time, my hubby went over to the furniture restorer who has mended the broken section of my magnificent Burmese screen, and for the first time since we moved, it is now displayed in all its glory.

All three panels of this screen are as intricately carved front and back, so it can be displayed anywhere in a room so that all sides are visible. I’ve never had a large enough room to be able to use it as a room divider, which is what would be ideal. I inherited this screen from my grandfather and it has accompanied me throughout my adult life. It is made from solid Burma teak and weighs an absolute ton! Over the years various bits on the tops got broken and the restorer has re-attached the bits that I still had. When I disassembled it to move here, one of the top pieces fell into two halves and I could see that this had happened before, and that my grandfather had mended it, but the glue had dried out. These two pieces have now been stuck back together. This is one of my great treasures!

Our sitting room looks so beautiful now it’s all complete at last, and everything is integrated an appears “meant to be” rather than the overcrowded clutter of before, and with Mum’s room being so much nicer too, we are taking advantage of it and sitting in there sometimes, getting the afternoon and evening sun, and having a nice view over the garden, with direct access to the little patio with the pots of flowers.

I shall be taking some more garden photos soon, and possibly doing a video tour of the garden as things start to grow and mature. My hubby has worked so hard out there and it’s all looking lovely.

One final bit of news – I sang in church for the first time today! I was thrilled to do it and it went very well, and I got some lovely feedback, which was very encouraging. I am booked to sing again on 12th June. It is a number of years since I have done this. I have such a sense of many doors beginning to open for me now that last year is behind me, and it’s an exciting and positive time, with lots to look forward to now that I feel I’ve been given my life back and I am looking upon things in a new light, as if everything is all fresh and clean and new.

I just feel incredibly blessed.